State Representative prioritizing property tax relief for home, business owners during re-election campaign

2017-08-24T22:37:12Z2017-08-24T23:26:09Z

Rep. Brooks Landraf (Source: KWES)

ODESSA, TX (KWES) -

State Representative Brooks Landgraf is running for re-election, his current term ends January 2019. Landgraf said if re-elected property tax relief is at the top of his priority list.

"Have the state re-establish itself as being responsible for public education," said Landgraf. "We need to make that a priority in our budget, take the burden off local school districts who have to levy these property taxes on homeowners and on businesses."

Landgraf started making progress for local school districts during the special session, co-authoring a bill reducing "Robin Hood" amounts paid by school districts. Eventually, Landgraf wants to completely eliminate the "Robin Hood" plan.

"I think we can actually kill two birds with one stone," said Landgraf. "We can lower property taxes for homeowners and businesses while also improving educational opportunities all across Texas."

Also on Landgraf's priority list, improving roads in Ward and Winkler County.

"We're in the middle of a frac sand boom. It's going to create hundreds, if not thousands of jobs, here locally but that is going to have a pretty heavy impact on our highways," said Landgraf. "So I've been working very closely with TxDOT officials both at the state level and here at the regional level to make sure we're doing everything that we can to accommodate that traffic so that we can keep those roads open for business but also make them safe for families to travel back and forth."

Landgraf recently got back from Austin from the special session. He said he's been in contact with Governor Greg Abbott and doesn't expect to be called back anytime soon.